Alec Baldwin drops out of the Joker movie

Alec Baldwin has dropped out of the 'Joker' movie.

The 60-year-old actor was said to be in line to portray Thomas Wayne - the physician and philanthropist father of Bruce Wayne/ Batman, who will be played by Joaquin Phoenix in the hotly-anticipated movie - but he's since decided to quit as he didn't want to portray "some Donald Trump manque."

Taking to his Twitter account, Baldwin said: "Let me state, for the record, that I have NOT been hired to play a role in Todd Phillips' JOKER as some Donald Trump manque. That is not happening. Not. Happening. (sic)"

His public announcement came just hours after he told 'USA Today' that he had to drop out of the blockbuster due to conflicting scheduling issues.

He said in a statement: "I'm no longer doing that movie.

"I'm sure there are 25 guys who can play that part."

Filming is due to start on September 10 but it's not yet known whether Baldwin's shock exit will delay the picture, which will also star Robert De Niro, Marc Maron and Frances Conroy, because bosses will now need to find another actor.

Phoenix recently admitted his portrayal of the Joker would be "unique".

He said: "I wouldn't quite classify this as like any genre. I wouldn't say it's a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a ... It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that's exciting.

"I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn't, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied.